Maypole type braiders have been utilized for many years in forming single or multiple braided covers on various types of core materials, such as plastic tubing and the like. Generally, this conventional type of braiding machine is provided with a set of drive rotors rotatably supported in a circular arrangement around a central braiding location. First and second sets of strand supply carrier shuttles are moved in serpentine intersecting paths of travel and in opposite directions around the drive rotors and the central braiding location so that the strand material wound on the strand supply carriers is withdrawn therefrom and forms the braided cover. Examples of this conventional type of braiding machine are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,408,894 and 3,783,736.
The strand supply carrier shuttles are held in engagement with the drive rotors and transferred from one drive rotor to an adjacent drive rotor by means of bearing supported cam followers carried by the drive rotors and engageable with cam tracks on a cam wheel carried by each of the strand supply carrier shuttles. The maximum speed at which the braider can operate, without imparting excessive wear to the cam follower support bearings, is determined by the initial weight of the strand material wound on the strand supply carriers. It is the conventional practice to set the maximum operating speed of the braider in accordance with the type of strand material which is wound on the strand supply carriers and to continuously maintain this same maximum speed of operation throughout the braiding operation, even though the weight of the strand material wound on the strand supply carriers is progressively decreased as the strand material is unwound from the strand supply carriers, so that the maximum efficiency of the braiding machine is not utilized.